Panthers take notice but will `talk with our pads'

CHARLOTTE — Scrawled on the bulletin board in the Carolina Panthers' locker room Wednesday was a reminder to wear "Full Pads" for practice and schedule information for their upcoming trip to Chicago.

Missing was the proverbial bulletin-board material Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye supplied Monday at Halas Hall when he said Sunday's NFL playoff opponent at Soldier Field received "more credit than they deserve."

But Ogunleye's words hung in the air inside Bank of America Stadium even if they were not tacked to a wall.

And this was before Brian Urlacher backed up those sentiments with even more bravado on Wednesday.

"We realize the Bears are a great team, which is why they have home-field advantage and a first-round bye, but don't just throw us under the bus, man," safety Marlon McCree said in response. "We ain't the Sisters of the [Poor] here."

No, the Panthers see perfectly well and most of them had read Ogunleye's comments. McCree said coach John Fox addressed them briefly in a team meeting before practice.

"Coach [Fox] talked about all the talking that's being done in Chicago [and] we don't know why those guys don't like us or want us to get into that type of game with them," McCree said. "We never said anything to bring that on. We realize they're a good team and we respect them. We just don't feel like that's reciprocated. And it's unfortunate because we are a pretty good team. . . .

"And we will be respected."

McCree paused for effect. Maybe all this rhetoric indeed will be forgotten by kickoff as some have suggested, but McCree's tone sounded more like a promise than a threat.

"We're not going to go into that war of words but we're going to talk with our pads Sunday," McCree said. "The only discouraging thing about something like this is it's so beautiful to be in the playoffs and then you have a guy like [Ogunleye] talking about how we ain't [anything]. Well, come on, man. We have to be halfway decent to get here."

Ogunleye's insinuation amused other Carolina players as much as it annoyed them.

Veteran Panthers with 2004 Super Bowl experience questioned the Bears defensive end's ability to raise doubts about their playoff worthiness when Ogunleye will be seeing his first postseason action Sunday.

"He's young," Minter said of Ogunleye, 28, four years his junior. "That's what you know when a guy comes out and does something like that. He's just young and excited about where he's at and trying to get in the papers, I guess. When people are young, you just overlook it and keep going. He'll learn from that."

Several Panthers compared the flap to the one created a week ago when New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora bragged before last Sunday's 23-0 wild-card playoff victory that he and Michael Strahan were the best defensive end tandem in the league.

Defensive end Mike Rucker, the Carolina bookend to Julius Peppers, considered that a challenge and plans to answer Ogunleye the same way he responded to Umenyiora: with a three-hour statement at Soldier Field.

"When that whistle goes, you play it out on the field and that's where you see what's going on and who's just talking and who really wants to get down and dirty," said Rucker, who's only a year older than Ogunleye. "I don't know if it's 'cause he's young. They sure like talking about us. [But] we don't need to do it back and forth through the media. We'll have 60 minutes to do the talking."

The issue has not preoccupied Panthers fans to the same degree it has Beardom.

The Bears-Panthers game barely was mentioned in the first 30 minutes of the city's most popular midday sports-talk show Wednesday, and Ogunleye's name was nowhere to be found on the front page of the Charlotte Observer sports section.

There was more attention given stories about the wife of Panthers owner Jerry Richardson wearing lucky blue glasses that blinked and actor George Wendt--a.k.a. Superfan Bob Swerski--kidding about tailgating with roast panther at Soldier Field.

Even outspoken defensive tackle Brentson Buckner defended Ogunleye's right as an American to express himself and scoffed to reporters who pressed him for a typically colorful reaction.

"I don't care about that, man," Buckner said. "The game is played between the lines."

Panthers offensive guard Mike Wahle seemed more bothered by Bears defensive end Alex Brown chuckling during a conference call with Carolina reporters when asked if the unit that gave up eight sacks Nov. 20 had improved.

Asked by a hometown reporter about Brown possibly making light of the Panthers' offensive line, Wahle shook his head and looked more bugged than his words implied.

"I don't care," said Wahle, who came to Carolina after starting 83 games for the Green Bay Packers. "I guess you have to earn respect so we'll go out there and try to earn it on Sunday."

But in the minds of Panthers players just two years removed from a Super Bowl run, Ogunleye has more respect to earn Sunday than they do.

"You can talk about it all you want all week." Pro Bowl wide receiver Steve Smith said, referring to Ogunleye. "But come Sunday, all that you said is either going to come to fruition or it's going to backfire."